By Greta Lieske
IV Leader Associate Editor, Oct. 4, 2007
Roughly 170 soldiers, including one Illinois Valley Community College student, of the Illinois National Guard 1744th Transportation Company arrived home safely Saturday, Sept. 15 around noon at a welcome home ceremony in Streator’s City Park after a year tour at Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq.
IVCC student and soldier, Spc. Heather Graham, 21, walked off one of the three charter buses parked on front of Streator’s Veteran’s Plaza into a sea of cheering, clapping and emotional family members and friends that showed up to support the Streator based Transportation Company.
“Coming home and seeing everybody wave at you, you know, you feel like you did something good for everybody,” says Graham about the ceremony. “It was amazing that they were all there to support us.”
The three buses, that carried the soldiers from Camp Atterbury in Indiana to Streator, were led by a police car, two fire engines and about a dozen members of the Freedom Riders on their motorcycles. With sirens blaring they circled around Streator’s City Park before stopping just in front of Veteran’s plaza. Many people carried homemade signs to show their loved ones support and some released balloons as the soldiers got off the buses.
Friends of Graham, Kaitlyn McConnaughhay and Angie Didrickson, had a homemade sign decked out with red, white and blue and with some daises welcoming her home, along with three American flags they waved high.
“I thought it [the ceremony] was pretty cool,” says McConnaughhay, “but I’m not going to lie, it was pretty emotional. It was also strange and neat seeing other people I knew come back, like people I had gone to school with. Just knowing that they had just spent all that time in Iraq, and then they were home; it was a strange thing.”
“Battle Hymn of the Republic” was played from the stage speakers as the soldiers walked past the crowd, trying their best to pass by loved ones without hugs, kisses and tears so they could get into line before taking their seats for the homecoming ceremony.
The ceremony was what Graham had “expected it would be.”
“There were a lot of people, and they were there to support us; honor us,” adds Graham. She was also just pleased at how well the ceremony and homecoming went since she was actually quite nervous before coming home.
“I didn’t know what to expect as far as my family,” says Graham. “I didn’t know if my family would all be crying and in tears and everything, but it actually went pretty good.”
After the troops filed off the buses through the crowd and lined up, they all took their seats for the actual ceremony, which was barely a half an hour since everyone knew that the troops were anxious to see family and friends.
After everyone was in their seats, Streator Mayor Ray Schmitt thanked the troops for serving their country and ushered everyone not to take freedom for granted and State Sen. Gary Dahl, R-Peru, and Brig. Gen. Mark Stanich also added a few words of support for the troops.
Spc. Graham was worried when she found out almost a year ago that she would be deployed to Iraq just a few months after graduating from basic training in the National Guard.
“I was scared; I didn’t know what was going to happen,” explains Graham. “One thing I thought of was, ‘Am I going to get shot? Is one of my Battle Buddies going to get shot?’”
Her family and friends were just as worried as she was when they heard of the year-long deployment.
“They were crying and everything just like typical family members would,” adds Graham. Even though Graham was worried about the deployment at first, she actually describes her overall experience as a positive one.
“I enjoyed it; I would go back,” states Graham. “There is actually a lot more there that people don’t really see.”
While stationed in Camp Anaconda in Balad, Spc. Graham didn’t always do the same job everyday. Some days were spent being a driver of an Army Security Vehicle (ASV) and she would recover Humvees that were out of the perimeters and bring them back inside the wire.
Another job she describes as ‘Towers,’ which included sitting in a tower for about four hours, after some briefing, and watching outside the perimeter of the base. This job usually meant getting ready for work at about 2 p.m., after getting specific information in the morning, and then working until 8 p.m. or longer.
Although Graham enjoyed her experience, she does not mean to give the impression that it was easy. She still missed her family members, family gatherings, hanging out with friends, holidays and especially Christmas. For Christmas she explains that she and her roommate had a tiny, one foot tree in their room. Every time she received a present in the mail, she put it under the tree and then waited almost three weeks for Christmas morning before opening them.
“I woke up my roommate at about five in the morning,” says a laughing Graham about Christmas. “Then I jumped on her until she woke up, and then we opened presents together.”
Graham’s year away holds many memories for her, yet she seems to be getting used to being a civilian life again. After the welcome home ceremony in Streator, she dropped her stuff off at home, unpacked everything and then jumped in her car to go for a drive. She has a lot of hopeful plans for the future.
“I want to go back to IVCC, and maybe even Joliet Junior College, for some Criminal Justice classes and for firefighting,” says Graham.
She is still deciding, and weighing her options.
As for her National Guard unit, who were stationed with her, and her deployment, she speaks of both with high regard and says she constantly keeps in touch with her fellow soldiers.
“It’s something that I will never forget, and I have a second family; my unit is my second family.”
Every troop of the National Guard 1744th Transportation Company that was deployed in 2006 to Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq arrived home. There were no causalities and no major injuries.